


do the job or die trying

by captain_golden



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AU, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, and keeps accidentally bullying kara, and lena is the new department head who doesnt know how to handle emotions, honestly? everyone in this fic is a gay fucking mess, kara and winn are hopeless at their jobs, side scholsen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-30 04:14:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11455764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_golden/pseuds/captain_golden
Summary: Kara turned to look to the front office. An impeccably dressed woman stood at the doorway. Her dark hair was gathered into a tight ponytail. Kara could make out her bright red lipstick from across the office.  “That’s our department head?” She said, much too loud for the eerily quiet office.Winn watched with horrified rapture when the woman averted her burning stare to Kara. He heard her swallow audibly when the woman stalked down the isles of cubicles and stopped right in front of Kara’s.“I am the new department head.” The woman paused for a moment before continuing. “Lena Luthor. You may address me as Miss Luthor. Any misconduct will result in extermination.” She didn’t break eye contact with Kara.





	do the job or die trying

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Narraboth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narraboth/gifts).



“As you all know, our last department head had an unfortunate… accident.”

 

Kara looked up from her computer when she heard the sound of Cat Grant’s voice by the front of the office. She quickly glanced over at Winn in panic. He grimaced and shrugged, taking the headphones off of his ears. 

 

“Accident?” Kara mumbled to herself in the silence that followed Cat’s statement.

 

Winn leaned over to whisper into Kara’s ear. “She pushed him out of a moving car when she heard he had an affair with her old secretary-”

 

Kara swallowed. “Isn’t that probably illegal? On both of their accounts?”

 

“I mean yeah, probably but he deserved it for making me think about him getting it on.” Winn said, leaning back in his seat when Cat began speaking again. Kara shivered and turned her head to look back to the front of the office.

 

“Well I’ve hired a new department head. A very promising leader. She will be arriving shortly.” She pointedly glanced at Kara and Winn after a few seconds. “Keep working.” 

 

Kara let out a sigh of relief when Cat’s assistant escorted her to the elevator and handed her a coffee. She looked at Winn, who had his hand placed over his probably wildly beating heart.

 

He let out a shaky breath and gestured with his head to Cat’s assistant. “I’d hate to have that job.” Winn said, smiling weakly.

 

“Yeah. Me too.” Kara said lightly, watching as the pair disappeared into the elevator. “A new department head through? Do you think we’ve heard of her? What does this department even do anyways?”

 

Winn shrugged. “I mean probably. Nothing but the best for CatCo? Right?”

 

“You ignored my last question. You’re not even completely sure what our jobs are-” Kara said, looking nervously at Winn and putting a finger to her lips to silence his protests. “-and neither do I-” Her voice rose slightly in panic.

 

“I  _ don’t  _ know what we do here- Calm down- I have  _ no clue _ what we do-”

 

Kara leaned forward in her chair, looking around nervously. Her voice rose in panic. “Are we interns? Are we reporters? Isn’t CatCo a magazine company? Our department head wrote an article at one point? Right?”

 

Winn looked at Kara helplessly. “I don’t know. I don’t know- we’ve never gotten any assignments-”

 

“ _ Are we supposed to be getting assignments? _ ”

 

“Don’t ask me that! I don’t know!”

 

Kara put her head in her hands. “I don’t know anyone in this office.”

 

“ _ Shh.  _ Don’t let them hear you. At least we’re getting a new department head, I guess. Do you think we’ll actually have to do work?”

 

“I hope so. Maybe. Being in this office is like a blacked out area of my life.” Kara rubbed her eyes and then moved her mouse, interrupting the infinite loop of screensaver pictures. “Anyways, they can’t possibly be any worse than Snapper Carr- rest in peace-”

 

“Kara, he’s not dead.”

 

“What?”

 

“He didn’t die.”

 

“You just said he got pushed out of a moving car-”

 

“A car going like two miles per hour. He just quit after that. Cat didn’t want to pay his severance package.”

 

“Maybe give me a full picture next time? Winn? Come on.” Kara sighed, leaning back in her chair. “What are we even supposed to be doing?”

 

Winn licked his lips nervously. “Stop asking me that.”

 

_ “Who am I supposed to ask then-” _

 

Kara was cut off by the sound of the front door of the office flinging open. 

 

“Oh god.” Winn whispered. 

 

Kara turned to look to the front office. An impeccably dressed woman stood at the doorway. Her dark hair was gathered into a tight ponytail. Kara could make out her bright red lipstick from across the office.  “That’s our department head?” She said, much too loud for the eerily quiet office. 

 

Winn watched with horrified rapture when the woman averted her burning stare to Kara. He heard her swallow audibly when the woman stalked down the isles of cubicles and stopped right in front of Kara’s.

 

“I  _ am  _ the new department head.” The woman paused for a moment before continuing. “Lena Luthor. You may address me as Miss Luthor. Any misconduct will result in extermination.” She didn’t break eye contact with Kara.

 

Winn worriedly glanced back at Kara who was looking down at her feet, hands tightly gripping the armrests of her chair.

 

“You will all receive an email within the next hour. Please continue whatever you doing before my arrival.” Lena said, looking up from Kara as if addressing the rest of the office for the first time. “I will be in my office. Do not bother me.” She glanced at Kara one more time before walking to her office and shutting the door behind her.

 

After a few quiet seconds, the office continued with its activity. 

 

“Kara-”

 

_ “What the fuck do we even  _ **_do_ ** _ here.” _ Kara whispered in horror, snapping her head to look at Winn.

 

* * *

 

Lena sat down dejectedly at the wooden desk on the far end of the office. She put her face in her hands and groaned loudly. “They think you’re a bitch-  She  probably hates you-”

 

Lena thought back to her disastrous first impression with one of the most beautiful women she had ever seen in her life and groaned again, this time letting her head drop onto the desk. She turned her head to the side and stared at the dusty window blinds. A knock at the door had her jolt off of the desk.

 

“I distinctly remember telling everybody  _ not _ to bother me.” Lena called out, wincing at the tone of voice she used.

 

The door cracked open. A short woman with long dark hair walked into her office.

 

“I’m so sorry Miss Luthor- I’m your assistant. Jess.”

 

“Oh. Close the door.” Lena sighed. She took the laptop out of her bag and set it on the desk.

 

Jess closed the door behind her. “I’ll have your calendar synced with the company’s. Do you need anything else?”

 

“Hm?” Lena said, looking up. “Oh, could you open the blinds? It feels a bit stifling in here.”

 

Lena looked back down at her computer when Jess smiled and nodded, starting on the department wide email she had promised earlier.

 

The light filtering into the office immediately brightened Lena’s mood. She let out a sigh and stretched her neck slightly.

 

“I heard about your show of power.”

 

Lena’s eyes snapped to Jess, who had just finished opening all of the blinds in the office. “Oh my god. That was like two minutes ago-”

 

“I-I thought it was, um, inspiring!” Jess said unconvincingly.

 

“You though I was a total bitch.”

 

Jess winced. “We can work on that. I know that’s not true now.”

 

“We?”

 

“I’m on your side, Miss Luthor, believe it or not.”

 

“Right.” Lena cleared her throat. “Well thank you Jess. I’ll let you know if I need anything else.”

 

“I’m right outside.” She said. Lena watched as she made her way to the door. Jess paused and looked back at Lena. “Her name is Kara Danvers.”

 

Lena looked at Jess questioningly.

 

“The girl you gave a heart attack.”

 

Lena’s eyes widened. “Right. Kara Danvers.”

 

Jess laughed and shut the door behind her.

 

* * *

 

“What time is lunch.”

 

“The same time it is every day, Kara.”

 

“When is that, exactly?”

 

“Um.” Winn faltered for a few seconds. Winn let out a laugh. “Nine. Ten- ten thirty?” 

 

Kara grinned and leaned closer to Winn. “Just ask James.”

 

Winn smacked her face. “Don’t you dare say that to me ever again.”

 

“What the heck- I thought you liked him-” Kara whined, rubbing her forehead dejectedly

 

“I’m in love with him Kara, there’s a difference.”

 

“You’ve talked to him like twice.”

 

“That’s exactly why I can’t talk to him now-”

 

“Make it three times!” Kara said, pushing his chair across the small isle of cubicles.

 

Winn yelped, throwing his hands out in front of himself to stop from crashing face first into the back of James’s chair. Instead he crashed hands first, pushing the man painfully into his desk. Kara cringed and turned around, pretending to do work on her computer. Winn slowly backed away from James’s chair allowing him to dislodge his stomach from the edge of his desk.

 

“Winn?” James wheezed after a few seconds, turning to look at Winn who slightly cowered in his chair. “Why did you just crash into my chair-”

 

“I- uh-” Winn scrunched his eyes close. “I totally misjudged the distance.”

 

“Were you aiming for Alaska?”

 

“What?”

 

James’s smiled weakly. “The distance.”

 

“Oh. Right.” Winn said, laughing nervously. “Uh no.”

 

James stared at him helplessly. “Okay then… Was there anything you needed?”

 

Winn jolted, dragging his eyes away from James’s lips. “Uh… Right. Do you know when lunch is?”

 

“It’s eight in the morning. Are you already hungry or something?”

 

Winn laughed loudly. “No.”

 

James’s smile almost looked like a grimace at this point. “Lunch is at twelve.”

 

“Cool cool cool cool…” Winn said, nodding his head. He sat in the aisle for a full minute.

 

“Are you going to go back to your desk?”

 

“Yep yep yep yep…” Winn said, pushing his chair with his feet backwards to his desk. He continued nodding to James, who chuckled and turned around. Winn watched him put on his headphones. 

 

“That went great, Romeo.”

 

“I’m literally going to fill your bag with jello mix and superglue later.”

 

“Cool cool cool cool…” Kara said, wincing and turning back to her computer.

 

* * *

 

Kara stopped playing minesweeper when a new email notification popped up at the corner of her screen.

 

**Email from Lena Luthor.**

 

“Winn.” She whispered. “Winn… Winn!” Kara crumpled up a piece of paper on her desk, stood up,  and threw it directly into Winn’s face from above the cubicle partition.

 

“Kara! Really?!” Winn said, throwing his headphones off and standing up.

 

“Check your inbox.” Kara said, not looking away from the notification.

 

“What?”

 

“The new department head sent an email.”

 

“Oh shit.” Winn plopped back down in his seat. He clicked around for a few seconds. “Oh  _ shit _ the assignments are attached.”

 

“The what?!”

 

“Haven’t you opened it?!” Winn said, peeking over the side of the cubicle partition indignantly.

 

“I’m too scared.”

 

“I’ll just check for you…” Winn mumbled. Kara heard him choke on his breath.

 

“What?! What’s my assignment?” Kara stood up looking over the partition to Winn’s computer.

 

“I’m working with James....”

 

“What about me-”

 

“Open your own freaking email, Kara!”

 

“Fine!” Kara sat back down in her seat and hit the email notification nervously. “Oh my GOD-”

 

“This is a nightmare- for both of us-”

 

“I’m assisting Lena Luthor on her next story.” Kara said, horrified. “I’m going to get murdered.” She dropped her head on her keyboard. The sound of a cheery ‘ding’ had her jolt up back again. 

 

Kara squinted at the screen, pushing her glasses up. Her vision blacked out for a second after she read the notification “Winn?” She squeaked.

 

“What?”

 

“How do I delete an email from someone else’s inbox.”

 

“I mean you could technically hack into their account. I could always-”

 

_ “We’re not hacking into the department head’s email-” _

 

“Wait,  _ what _ did you do?” 

 

When Kara didn’t respond, Winn scrambled out of his chair and jump into her cubicle. He fell to his knees. “Oh my god…”

 

Kara took her glasses off and put her hands on her eyes, leaning backwards in her chair.

 

* * *

 

**Email Sent**

 

To: lenaluthor@catco.com

From: karadanvers@catco.com

Subject: RE: Introductions and Assignments Attached

 

Kjfkldjflmvslkdfjsjaf;lsdkf;sdlflaksdfjlkaf;aldfsjsaklvcmfkdrfdskjldkfjkjfksdjfs

 

Kara Danvers,

CatCO.

 

* * *

 

“At least we know your email signature works.” Winn tried helpfully.

 

“I’m going to kill myself.”

 

* * *

 

Lena smiled slightly when she saw the email notification in the corner of her screen. She moved her finger across the trackpad of her laptop and hit the notification.

 

The smiled dropped off of her face.

 

She hit the intercom buzzer on her desk.

 

_ “Miss Luthor?” _

 

“Can you come in for a second?”

 

_ “Of course.” _

 

Lena heard the sound of Jess getting out of her chair quickly and the door opened after a few seconds. Jess closed the door behind her.

 

“Can you help me understand something?”

 

“As best as I can, Miss Luthor.”

 

Lena nodded distractedly and turned her laptop in its place on her desk, Jess walked over when the screen faced her. She bent down to read the message. 

 

“What is this?”

 

“That’s what I’m trying to understand, Jess.”

 

“Was there something that prompted a response from Kara?” Jess asked, looking up at Lena.

 

“I assigned her to assist me with my next story.”

 

“Ah.”

 

“What.”

 

“Well either she hit her head on her keyboard in frustration, or she got so excited she couldn’t form words and flailed her hands on her keyboard helplessly trying to convey how much she was looking forward to work with you.”

 

“I’m not paying you to sass me.”

 

“You’re barely paying me at all.” Jess mumbled. “At least Snapper Carr wasn’t…” She said looking at Lena, raising her eyebrows.

 

“Is this a hint that I should give you a raise after one day of working together.”

 

“You’re a smart woman, Miss Luthor. I’ve read your articles. I think you can piece it together.”

 

“We’ll see.” Lena said distractedly, looking back down at her computer screen. “I really need to make a better impression, don’t I.”

 

“You’ve got plenty of time to do that, Miss Luthor.”

 

“Thank you, Jess.”

 

“Of course.” Jess said, exiting the office when Lena didn’t look up.

 

* * *

 

Kara shakily moved her mouse to open her newest email notification. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on the reply she had just received.

 

To: karadanvers@catco.com

From: lenaluthor@catco.com

Subject: RE: RE: Introductions and Assignments Attached

 

I am looking forward to working with you too. Hopefully that’s what you intended.

 

Lena Luthor,

Department Head of Science Journalism CatCO.

 

* * *

 

“Winn, I think I know what this department does now.”

 

“What?” Winn popped his head over the cubicle partition with a bag of chips.

 

Kara squinted at the signature at the bottom of the email. “We’re in the science journalism department.”

 

“How did I even get this job? I don’t know  _ anything _ about journalism to begin with. Science, maybe- but not reporting-” Winn said, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth dejectedly. “James is going to think I’m an idiot.”

 

“Who says he already doesn’t-” Kara squeaked when chips came raining down from above her.

 

* * *

 

Winn stared at Kara with slight pity in his eyes. Kara looked up from her fourth slice of pizze and groaned. 

 

“It’s not that big of a deal, Winn.”

 

“It was when I heard you sob at your desk earlier.”

 

“I didn’t- I have  _ allergies.” _ Kara said indignantly, pointing a pizza at Winn accusingly. 

 

“We’re going to get fired.” 

 

“We’re not going to get fired-”

 

“Kara we’ve worked here for almost three years.”

 

Kara paused her chewing. “Wait are you serious? My money was on like two months- tops.”

 

_ “Three years, Kara.”  _ Winn said, putting his face in his hands. “The only people I know are you and James and I’ve only talked to James twice.”

 

“Well, three times, counting today.”

 

Winn ignored her. “How did we go on this long without doing any work.”

 

“Luck?” Kara tried helpfully, shrugging. 

 

Winn suddenly took his face out of his hands, dramatically grabbing Kara’s from across the table. He shook her wrists. “We’re both almost twenty-three and we still haven’t done anything with our lives!”

 

“We’re still young! We have time- wait- we’ve eaten the Mega-Burger in less than twenty minutes at The Heartburn-”

 

“I don’t want my greatest life achievement to be my picture up on the wall of a burger joint!”

 

“Speak for yourself.” Kara mumbled, extracting her hands from Winn’s weak grip. She looked at his forlorn face and sighed. “We’re getting our chances now-”

 

“Exactly- we should really try our best.” He sighed, slumping down in his seat. He stabbed at his tupperware of pasta and looked up at Kara. “This is either going to work out great or fail horribly. I’m not sure what to expect at this point.”

 

* * *

 

Kara startled when a stack of paper was dropped onto her desk. She looked up to see Lena’s assistant looking apologetically at her. 

 

“She wants you to read through these articles about your subject until you leave tonight.”

 

Kara looked at Jess, wide eyed. “Like… all of them?”

 

“Try your best.” Jess said, sighing sympathetically. “Write notes about any important information you find here. Miss Luthor will probably request a list of questions later on.”

 

“Right. Notes. Questions.” Kara said, still staring at the gigantic stack of paper in front of her. “All of this?”

 

“Do your best, Kara.”

 

* * *

 

Winn jolted awake when he heard a thump from Kara’s side of the partition. “Kara?” He called out cautiously. 

 

No response.

 

He quickly walked over to her cubicle and put his hand on his mouth. “Kara?”

 

Kara looked up from Winn from the floor that she was lying on. “Winn I’m going to die. She’s expecting me to read a thousand pages of this by the end of the day.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Miss Luthor.” Kara rolled over onto her stomach. “I can’t stand her already. No one’s allowed to be  _ that _ attractive  _ and _ mean. It’s not good for my heart.”

 

Winn sighed and squatted down next to Kara.  _ “Don’t let her ruin this for you Kara.” _ He whispered fiercely.  _ “We’ve got a plan now. Stick to it.” _

 

“What plan.” Kara groaned.

 

“The one where we succeed and get on television and make a bunch of money.”

 

“That’s your plan.”

 

“It’s yours too now. Get up.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her up to a sitting position. “Finish these notes and then we can blow this popsicle stand.”

 

“Right. I’ve got this.”

 

* * *

 

Kara hit the partition between her and Winn dramatically. “Winn-  _ Winn-” _

 

Winn gasped dramatically from the other side, flinging his headphones off, and pressing his face to the partition. “Kara? Kara- is that you?”

 

“Winn- do you know what time it is?”

 

“Kara  _ tell me-  _ I need to hear you say it.”

 

“Winn.... Winslow……. Winslow Schott Jr……. it’s- it’s the end of the day.”

 

Kara grinned when she heard him fall onto the ground. “Kara- take my hand-”

 

She ran to his cubicle and kneeled next to him. Kara gently took his hand. 

 

“Do you know what this means? Kara…”

 

“Tell me.” She whispered.

 

“It means we’re going to Chili’s.”

 

* * *

 

Kara adjusted the sunglasses on her face as she entered the elevator. She leaned against the side of the elevator and took a long drink out of her absurdly large coffee cup. Winn walked in seconds later. He groaned when he saw Kara.

 

“Love you too, Winslow.” 

 

Winn put his hand on his forehead, shielding his eyes from Kara. “Why didn’t I think of sunglasses.”

 

“You’re probably still drunk on cheap Chili’s margaritas.”

 

“I can’t believe we thought it was Friday.” Winn mumbled, taking Kara’s cup to drink some of her coffee. “Oh… today is going to suck.”

 

“We got kicked out of  _ our  _ Chili’s! On a Thursday night. Not even a  _ Friday _ night. A Thursday night. I don’t think anything is going to top how much that sucks-”

 

_ “Hold the doors-” _

 

Kara automatically kicked out her foot to get caught in the door.  _ “Ugh.” _ The elevator doors opened accordingly after a few painful seconds of compressing Kara’s foot. 

 

Lena Luthor strutted in, coming to a stop in between Kara and Winn. She turned around to face the now closing door. “Thank you.”  She said, not glancing at Kara.

 

Kara licked her lips nervously and leaned back against the side of the elevators. “No problemo.”

 

Lena looked at her confusedly, scrunching her eyebrows together. Her eyes zoned in on the sunglasses on Kara’s face.”

 

“Any reason you’re wearing sunglasses indoors?”

 

“Um-” Kara glanced at Winn in panic. “Uh- no…” She didn’t make a move to take them off.

 

“In case this wasn’t clear a second ago,” Lena raised her eyebrow, “I am signalling for you to take them off.”

 

“R-right.” Kara said, slipping the sunglasses off and squinted, trying to adjust to the bright fluorescents. She glanced at Winn, who placed himself in the corner, trying not to attract Lena’s attention. The sound of Lena clearing her throat lightly prompted Kara to slowly drag her eyes back onto her.

 

Lena’s eyes slightly narrowed when she saw Kara’s bloodshot ones. The pronounced bags under her eyes also came to Lena’s attention. “Are you  _ hungover?” _

 

Kara winced. “I- We thought yesterday was Friday.”

 

“And that’s somehow supposed to excuse your heavy drinking.”

 

Kara swallowed roughly. She took a sip of her coffee. 

 

“Well, Kara? Was it a mistake for me to take you on for this assignment?”

 

“I- No. I’m sorry Miss Luthor. It won’t happen again.”

 

The elevator doors opened with a jarring ‘ding’. Winn slowly slid against the other wall to get around Lena. She turned her head slightly, acknowledging him. “Don’t think you’re off the hook either, Schott.”

 

“Right. Uh-”

 

Lena walked out of the elevator before he could make an intelligible response.

 

“Awesome. Freaking great.” Kara muttered, grabbing Winn’s sleeve to drag him along.

 

“Don’t forget that we’re meeting with Doctor Johnson later today, Kara.” Lena said loudly, before her assistant shut the door behind them in her office.

 

Kara shook her head and shoved her coffee at Winn. “This is all your fault.”

 

_ “My _ fault? You’re the one that caught her attention by being a rude little shiii- oh hi James!”

 

Kara rolled her eyes, ignoring Winn’s strange attempt at flirting, and trudged over to her cubicle, dropping her cardigan onto the back of her chair. A notification that her calendar had been updated popped up.

 

_ I have a calendar? _ Kara thought, squinting at the update. She clicked the small bubble. 

 

**Meeting with Doctor Johnson: 11am**

_ Changes made by Lena Luthor _

 

Kara groaned. “I’ve never interviewed anyone in my  _ life.” _

 

“Call your cousin.” Winn said, leaning over to look at Kara as he put his cardigan on the back of his chair. “He’s a reporter, right?”

 

“Ugh, you call him.”

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Your crush on his is second only to your crush on James. You’re a little fanboy.”

 

“He’s  _ been on TV.” _

 

“And? You could too if you actually tried reporting. Anyways how was your little meeting with James?”

 

Winn leaned on the back of Kara’s chair. “Heavenly. He asked me out for coffee. We’re going at like eleven.”

 

“Winn I read the assignments. You have a meeting with a whistleblower. He probably just set it up at a coffee shop.”

 

“What does whistleblowing have to do with my date? Do I have to go buy a whistle-”

 

Kara put her hand up. “Please.” She took a calming breath. “Please be quiet.”

 

“What-”

 

“Please. Please Winn. I’m begging you.”

 

“I- okay?” Winn walked back over to his cubicle, sparing a worried glance at Kara’s dramatically wrung hands.

 

Kara shook her head and back around to face her computer. A new email from Lena popped up.

 

To: karadanvers@catco.com

From: lenaluthor@catco.com

Subject: Meeting Information

 

Kara,

 

An outline for questions for Doctor Johnson will be needed by 10am for review. We will be leaving for the hospital at 10:30.

 

Lena Luthor,

Department Head of Science Journalism CatCO.

 

* * *

 

Kara looked through her illegible notes and groaned. “Winnn… I have so much work to do…”

 

“I never thought I’d hear you say those words.”

 

“Me neither. I didn’t even know what we did here until yesterday.” Kara paused. “Do we even get payed?”

 

“Yes we get payed, Kara.”

 

“Huh. Cool.”

 

“Go to work, Kara.”

 

“Fine.”

 

* * *

 

“Winn?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“How do I write questions for an interview?”

 

Winn scoffed. “And you think I’m the right person to ask?”

 

“Two heads are better than one? Right?”

 

Winn rolled his chair into Kara’s cubicle. He put his hand on her shoulder and looked over at the notes and articles on her desk. “Is this what you have?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Um. Just. Wait-” He took her mouse and clicked to open a new tab.

 

“What are you doing?” Kara said distrustfully when Winn elbowed his way to the keyboard.

 

He hit a few keys and pressed enter. Kara squinted at the screen. “Wikihow? Are you serious?” The page for ‘How To Write Interview Questions Like A Professional Journalist’ was pulled up on her screen.

 

“This is a reputable resource! It helped me act like a mysterious mermaid in middle school.”

 

“That’s what you were acting like? Everyone just thought you were constipated or something.”

 

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“I wanted to be supportive.”

 

* * *

Kara stared at the Wikihow article for a few more seconds. She scrunched her face up a bit at the poorly drawn people demonstrating how to write questions. She sighed and put her forehead on her desk. “You can do this. You can do this.” She groaned and leaned back in her chair, almost losing balance at the sudden movement. 

 

She clenched her fist. 

 

“You got this. What, who, where, when, why, how. Simple. Easy peasy.” Kara said, picking up her notepad and looking at the notes messily spread across her desk. She took a steadying breath and began writing the questions.

 

* * *

 

Lena clicked on the email notification from Kara. “Five minutes late…” She shook her head.

 

To: lenaluthor@catco.com

From: karadanvers@catco.com

Subject: RE: Meeting Information

 

The questions are attached.

 

Kara Danvers,

CatCO.

 

* * *

 

Lena frowned at the short email and sighed.

 

_ You’re doing a terrible job at being nice to her. _

 

She shook her head and skimmed over the questions quickly, deleting a few. She was surprised by the thoroughness of the list, and smiled a bit to herself. She sighed and pasted a few from her list. Lena hit print for two copies. She got out of her chair and over to her printer. She picked up the pages and stuffed them into her bag along with her laptop.

 

A knock on the door.

 

“Coming!” Lena said reaching for the handle just as the door swung open. Directly onto her face. Lena got knocked over backwards more from surprise than from the force of the door.

 

“... wouldn’t do that…” Lena vaguely heard Jess’s voice trail off. 

 

_ “Oh my god…”  _ Kara whispered, looking at Lena on the floor holding her face in her hands.  _ “I killed the department head-” _

 

“You didn’t kill me, you idiot.” Lena muttered. “Get me a tissue.”

 

“Anything!” Kara said, sprinting back to her cubicle to grab her tissue box.

 

Lena groaned, scooting over to lean against a wall. She took a hand off of her face and grimaced when she saw some blood from her lip. Kara jumped back into the office, flinging her box of tissues into Lena’s lap.

 

“Close the door behind you.”

 

“Should I let Jess in?”

 

“I can handle it.” Lena said, dabbing at her lip with a tissue. “Now close the door.” Lena almost smiled when she could hear Kara’s comically loud gulp. Almost. She shut the door as per Lena’s request. “You and I need to have a talk-”

 

“I’ll pack up my things.”

 

Lena looked up from her bloody tissue. “What?”

 

“I said I’ll go pack up my things.”

 

“Why would you need to do that?”

 

“What?” Kara took her hand off of the doorknob. “You’re not firing me?”

 

“You really are an idiot.”

 

“Do you really need to insult me-”

 

“Just conduct the interview on your own, I can’t go over there like this. There’s a copy of the edited questions in my bag.” Lena sighed and leaned her head against the wall, watching Kara grab the paper and actually taking in her attire for the first time that day. She snorted.  _ What a butch. _

 

“I- thank you Miss Luthor.”

 

Lena nodded. “Don’t expect me to let this whole physical harm thing slide next time. Understood?”

 

Kara nodded.

 

“Don’t fuck this interview up. God help me.”

 

“I’ll- I’ll do my best.”

 

“You’ll need to do better than your best- I’ve seen it- Make sure to schedule a follow up.” Lena said licking her lip when she felt the blood run a bit.

 

Kara nodded and reached for the door.

 

“And Kara? You look nice.”

 

Kara looked down at Lena. “What?”

 

Lena blanched. “I said that will suffice. Please get out of my office.”

 

* * *

 

Jess sat down at the edge of Lena’s desk and looked at Lena. 

 

“Stop looking at me like that.”

 

“‘Please get out of my office?’ Miss Luthor…” 

 

“I said stop looking at me like that.”

 

“Are you sure you’re an adult or are you just three prepubescent boys stacked on top of each other in a trenchcoat?” 

 

“I can fire you. You know that right?”

 

“You just sent one of the company’s least experienced journalists on the biggest story in this department.”

 

“I-”

 

“Please get out of my office? You can’t use that one today again.”

 

Lena growled in frustration. “You know what-”

 

Jess laughed and walked towards the door. “Fine. Fine, I’m leaving. I’d recommend the same for you, Miss Luthor. After the day you had.”

 

Lena threw the box of tissues in her lap at Jess, hitting the closing door. Lena sighed and licked at her split lip. She raked her hands through her hair. She got up and gathered her things, praying that Kara wasn’t fucking up the interview.

 

* * *

 

Kara was fucking up the interview.

 

She smiled awkwardly at Doctor Johnson, panickedly trying to get service on her phone. She had accidentally spilled an entire  _ beaker of blood _ on her sheet of questions. A beaker of blood. An  _ entire _ beaker of blood. On her questions. On the sheet she touched just seconds before.

 

Kara choked back a gag and shook her head. The silence was stifling, with the surprisingly attractive blonde Doctor clearing her throat every few seconds, glancing at Kara nervously after she had successfully managed to clean up the mess.

 

Kara hit her phone against her hand, hoping that the signal would somehow magically come to her phone.  _ I need to get to my sent folder- Any questions are better than none- _

 

“Do you need the wifi password?”

 

Kara looked up embarrassedly at the Doctor. “I- yeah. Um, is the service usually this bad?” She laughed nervously.

 

“I wouldn’t really know, I use the wifi.” Doctor Johnson joked, gently taking the phone from Kara to type the password.

 

Kara laughed nervously again. “I’m so sorry. This research is super important- I just- you saw the blood-”

 

Doctor Johnson laughed. “I did see the blood. I cleaned it up, too. Were those your questions it spilled onto?”

 

Kara nodded and opened the attachment she sent to Lena. “Yeah. I’m sorry I really wasted your time there-”

 

Doctor Johnson shook her head and smiled amusedly at Kara. “It’s always good to get away from uptight Doctors every once in a while.”

 

“Got the questions.” Kara said, nodding at the woman. “Now Doctor Johnson-”

 

“You can call me Jen if you want.”

 

“Oh cool! Well you can call me Kara.”

 

“Lovely name.”

 

“Thanks, uh- my mom gave it to me.” Kara grinned nervously when Jen laughed, looking back down at her questions. “Now, uh, I’ve read about your research, what do you think the implications of these studies are in the future?”

 

* * *

 

“Thank you for your time, Doctor Jen.”

 

Jen snorted. “Just Jen is fine. Thank you for being so thorough! Your readers will definitely have a lot of information after your article.”

 

Kara stuck out her hand to shake Jen’s. “I’ll email you for a follow up interview!”

 

“Sounds great.” Jen said, smiling at Kara when she took her hand. 

 

Kara heard a crinkle of paper when Jen had let go. She looked down at her hand. A phone number. She looked back up at Jen who was walking away and pocketed the number.

 

* * *

 

Kara knocked on Lena’s office. She heard a faint “Come in,” and made her way inside.

 

“I’ve got the notes for the article.”

 

Lena looked up from her laptop. Kara took in the not quite healed split lip with a grimace. Lena held out her hand for Kara’s notepad. She flipped through the notepad, skimming through the notes Kara had written.

 

“Where are the notes for the questions I added?”

 

“What?”

 

Lena looked up at Kara with a steely gaze. “Did you just  _ ignore _ the extra questions on the list? Did you not think they were important enough?”

 

“I-”

 

“I’m not paying you to make these types of decisions. Yes your questions were thorough, but you didn’t have any real hard hitting scientific debate. This is unacceptable.”

 

“Miss Luthor, I-”

 

“I don’t want to hear excuses.”

 

Kara felt frustrated tears well up. “If you’d let me explain-”

 

“No.” Lena said, looking back down at the notebook. Kara watched her eyes narrow, and flinched when she looked up at her. “You also handed in Doctor Johnson’s personal phone number.”

 

“I- what?” 

 

Lena grabbed the paper gingerly with two fingers, waving the crumpled paper slightly. Kara’s heart dropped when she made out the doctor’s handwriting. The slip had gotten caught in the notebook. “Were you ever going to inform me that this interview had gotten quite  _ personal _ ?”

 

“I just-”

 

“Get out.”

 

“No! If you would just listen for once-” Kara’s voice cracked. Lena looked up in surprise. “I accidentally spilled something on the sheet you gave me and it had to be thrown away.”

 

“What-”

 

“Maybe instead of jumping to conclusions, maybe you should let someone  _ explain _ their side of the story? This is ridiculous! What kind of leader dismisses someone like that? I thought you were supposed to be better than or last department head, but all you’ve been doing is bully me- I’ve been doing my best.” Kara said and took a breath. “I get that it’s not good enough for you.”

 

Lena sat, frozen, staring at Kara in shock. Kara just shook her head and turned to walk out of Lena’s office. 

 

“And by the way? She just gave me her phone number, I was never interested in pursuing her. I’m leaving for the day. Thank you for this opportunity.”

 

And with that, Kara was gone.

 

Lena continued to stare at the space Kara had occupied just seconds before. She swallowed and lowered slowly shut the lid of her laptop. Lena swallowed and hit the intercom buzzer on her desk after a few seconds.

 

_ “Miss Luthor?” _

 

“Clear my schedule.”

 

_ “I- alright.” _

 

“Thank you Jess.”

 

Lena clenched her jaw and leaned back in her chair. She let out a frustrated grunt and hung her head backwards.  _ How did I fuck up so badly, _ She angrily thought to herself. She dropped her head onto her desk and groaned to herself. 

 

_ And  _ **_why_ ** _ am I so turned on by her snapping at me. _

 

* * *

 

“Kara? Ka- Kara where are you going?”

 

“Out.” Kara grunted as she stuffed her cardigan into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder.

 

“Out? Seriously? Who am I? Your mom? You can tell me.”

 

“Well you’re either coming with me, or I’m leaving.”

 

Winn stared at her helplessly. Kara turned around, smiling when she heard Winn groan. “Fine! Fine. I’m just coming because I finished all of my work. Also so you don’t accidentally kill yourself.”

 

“Keep telling yourself that.”

 

Winn pushed Kara towards the stairs. “I will.”

 

* * *

 

Winn nervously gripped the handle above his head when Kara sped through another turn. “Are you going to tell me what happened-” He tightened his grip when Kara skidded across a few lanes haphazardly.  _ “Or where the heck we’re going-” _

 

“Well, Winslow,”

 

“Don’t call me that.”

 

“Well, Winn, our wonderful new department head just yelled at me-” Kara adjusted her rearview mirror. “Oh, that’s supposed to show the cars behind me!”

 

Winn looked at Kara nervously.

 

“Anyways I sort of maybe snapped at her.”

 

“Please tell me you’re joking.”

 

“I’m not. So I’m probably getting fired on Monday.” Kara grinned at Winn when she saw his flabbergasted stare. “I’ve accepted it, partner.”

 

“So you’re just going to turn into Sheriff Woody?”

 

“You got it.” Kara made finger guns at Winn and quickly put her hands back on the wheel when the car swerved.

 

“You never told me where we were going.”

 

Kara smiled. “We’re visiting Alex.”

 

Winn scrambled to pull the handle on the door. “Are the  _ child locks _ on?” He hit the door a few times with his hand.

 

“Yep.”

 

“You couldn’t tell me? Before we left?”

 

“Well if I told you, I knew you wouldn’t come.”

 

Winn bent forward and put his head in his hands. “There’s a reason, you know- Alex freaking hates me-”

 

“She doesn’t! She just doesn’t know how to behave around emotionally fragile people.” Kara said, pulling into the parking lot of a nondescript building.

 

“I’m not emotionally fragile!” Winn said, hitting his hands on the dashboard and then wincing.

 

“Right. You’re also physically fragile.”

 

* * *

 

“Kara!” Alex said happily, walking up to the front desk. “You caught me just as I was leaving.” She glanced over to Kara’s right. “Ooh and you brought Schott.” She clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Great to see you, buddy.”

 

Winn flinched and laughed nervously.

 

“We should all go eat somewhere- Chili’s?”

 

Kara shook her head. “We got banned last night.”

 

Alex tutted and shook her head. “It happens to the best of us. How about Applebee’s, that’s basically the same place, right?”

 

Kara looked at Alex in appall. 

 

“Okay... That's a no for Applebee's...” Alex said. “Any suggestions, then?” She asked, leading them out of the building, where a few people were looking at them a bit too curiously.

 

“Honestly? I’m kind of feeling Denny’s.” Winn said, patting his stomach. “Breakfast food is where it’s at.”

 

“Oh, perfect. They’ve got killer milkshakes.” Alex said. She gestured to her car. “I’ll drive us.”

 

* * *

 

_ “How  _ exactly is Alex a worse-” Winn yelped when his head hit the window. “How is she a worse driver than you, Kara.”

 

“You’re so dramatic. We’re average drivers at best.”

 

“You  _ breaked in the middle of a highway for a squirrel!” _

 

Alex laughed and sped into the Denny’s parking lot, hitting her front bumper on the curb in the process. “I’ve always been the better driver in this family.”

 

Winn groaned and unbuckled his seatbelt. 

 

* * *

 

“So,” Alex said in the between of a mouthful of waffles. “What’s the dealio. What’s shaking.”

 

“Stop talking like a mobster from New York, and maybe I’ll answer your question?” Kara said, pausing with her fork midway to her mouth.

 

Alex swallowed and sighed dramatically. “What is wrong, Kara, my dearest sister.”

 

“Your only sister.” Winn said snidely.

 

“I’m going to ignore that. Anyways. Kara. What brings you here. Not that I don’t appreciate a good old fashioned four in the afternoon dinner.”

 

“I snapped at my new boss and I’m probably getting fired on Monday.”

 

“Sometimes I forget you even have a job.”

 

“Me too, honestly.”

 

“What is it that you do?” Alex said, taking a sip out of her milkshake.”

 

When Kara hesitated, Winn sighed and tried to explain. “Uh well, for three years we kind of… did nothing. But technically we’re in the science reporting department in CatCo.” 

 

“Right. Right. So now you’re like doing work?”

 

“Yeah we got our first official assignments. Kara got assigned to work with the new department head and in the first couple days she was super rude, accidentally sent her a keysmash email, hit her in the mouth with a door, spilled blood on her assigned questions, and snapped at her when she got told off.”

 

“You’re not exactly making me look good here, Winn.”

 

Winn laughed. “Have you ever looked good?”

 

Kara scoffed indignantly.

 

Alex nodded thoughtfully. She looked at Kara. “Is she cute?”

 

“Who?”

 

“Your new boss.”

 

“What? That’s disgusting!  And wrong. I don’t even get- why would- I’ve never thought anyone was cute, ever. It’s none of your- you have- the nerve, the audacity, Lena is my boss. And she is terrible, face-wise. And how- how- do I know, frankly, that you don’t think she’s cute? Maybe you do. Maybe you’re trying to throw me off? Hmm? Check and mate.”

 

“Kara, I’ve never met your boss.”

 

Kara deflated in the sticky booth. “Right. I- I’m going to stop saying. Stuff.”

 

“Oh my god.” Winn whispered, dropping a fry. “You’re in love with her.”

 

“How did you get love out of me thinking she’s maybe super attractive.” 

 

“I used the word cute, Kara.” Alex chimed in.

 

“Same thing.”

 

“No. No. Oh my god. You’re in love with our  _ boss-” _

 

“I never said I was in love with her! Do I want to make out with her face? Maybe! Do I daydream about marrying her in a beautiful outdoor wedding? Sometimes! Do I want to have her children? Absolutely! Am I in love with her-”

 

“Yes!” Winn said, pointing his fry accusingly in her face. “Get in touch with your emotions! You want to kiss her! And hug her! And-”

 

“Fuck her.” Alex added helpfully.

 

Winn sighed. “I- I- Sure. Whatever. Anyways, you want all of that. Right?”

 

Kara bit down on her lip. “Maybe. I don’t know. She definitely hates me. And that'd be against the rules. And she’s firing me, remember?”

 

“Kara, she would’ve fired you after 2 minutes if she didn’t like you.” Alex said, laughing.

 

“Alex has a point.” Winn took a bite out of his last fry. He pointed the stub at Kara. “Get yourself together. Apoligize.”

 

“Or just pretend nothing ever happened, it’s a power move.”

 

“Yeah- wait, no. Alex-”

 

“No, no. I think she has a point, Winn.” Kara hit her fist against her hand. “I need… a power move.”

 

Winn groaned and hung his head forward. “You’re going to get fired. Then I’m going to get fired. And I’ll never end up with James like Pam ended up with Jim-”

 

“Stop using fictional office comedies as your romantic role models.”

 

“Look who’s talking, freaking Leslie Knope.” Winn said, looking at Kara in exasperation.

 

* * *

 

Kara paced nervously in front of Jess’s desk. Jess watched her pause momentarily and then continue pacing just as vigorously. She shook her head and looked back down at her computer. The intercom on Jess’s desk buzzed. Jess sighed and signaled towards the door. Kara all but sprinted up and opened the door. The door slammed behind her.

 

Lena was standing by the pitcher of water in the corner of the room. She looked over her shoulder when she heard the door slam, accidentally overfilling the glass and spilling water everywhere. Including herself.

 

_ “Shit-” _ Kara ran up to Lena. “I-”

 

“I have a roll of paper towels under my desk-”

 

“Gotcha.” Kara said, scrambling to Lena’s desk and grabbing the roll of paper towels. She ripped off a piece and awkwardly attempted to mop up the water on Lena’s shirt. Lena swallowed, looking up, hoping that Kara didn’t see her absurdly red blush travelling down her neck.

 

“Ah- I’m-” Kara gestured to the water dripping onto the floor. She ripped off a couple more pieces of the paper towels and dropped them on the puddle of the floor. She glanced at Lena, taken aback by the sight before her.

 

Lena breathing heavily, supporting herself with one hand on her desk, face and neck completely taken over by a deep blush.

 

“Miss- Miss Luthor ? Are you okay-” Kara froze when Lena looked at her. Lena bit down on her lip. Kara let out a strangled groan. “I’m sorry for this in advance.”

 

“What-”

 

Kara lurched forward and captured Lena’s lips in a searing kiss. Lena stumbled backwards into her desk, knocking over a stack of paper. She raked her hands through Kara’s hair, returning the kiss with, what she hoped was, the same amount of vigor. Kara hoisted Lena onto the desk, hands on the backs of Lena’s thighs.

 

Lena pulled away panting, but quickly moved back, grabbing the back of Kara’s neck to continue the impromptu kiss. Kara tightened her grip on Lena’s thighs, unknowingly provoking Lena to wrap them around her waist. 

 

Another stack of paper flew off of Lena’s desk, fluttering to the ground, adding to the already increasingly messy floor. Kara pushed herself harder against Lena when the thighs around her waist tightened. The groan the bubbled out of Lena’s lips was muffled by the increasingly fervent kiss.

 

The crackling buzz of the intercom had them flying apart, Kara retreating to the corner where the spill had occurred and Lena gracefully tumbling off her desk.

 

_ “Miss Luthor? Is everything okay- I’m hearing some concerning noises-” _

 

Lena’s hands clambered for the edge of the desk, hefting herself off of the floor, and hitting the button on the intercom. “Yes- yes- I just knocked into my desk and a few stacks of paper fell off- Thank you for your concern, Jess.”

 

_ “Of course. Apologies, Miss Luthor.” _

 

Lena pushed a few strands of hair from her face with her hand. She hoisted herself off of her knees, using the desk to support her and brought her gaze back to Kara.

 

“I’m super fired, aren’t I. There’s like six law against this.” Kara scrubbed at her face with her hand, grimacing when she looked down to see that Lena’s lipstick had smudged onto it. “As if I wasn’t already about to get fired before. Oh my god.” She leaned against the wall despondently. 

 

Lena looked at Kara with surprise. “Where did you get that idea?”

 

Kara looked up. “What?”

 

“You thought I was going to fire you?” Lena said, walking over to where Kara was standing, carefully stepping over the pile of wet paper towels.

 

“I- what? Why else would you want a meeting with me first thing in the morning?”

 

Lena let out a disbelieving laugh. “You thought I was going to  _ fire you _ so you kissed me?”

 

“No- no! I wasn’t- I wasn’t planning on kissing you.” Kara looked away from Lena’s burning gaze. “It just sort of… happened?”

 

“I was going to give you the assignment. To work on your own.” Lena said after a few seconds.

 

“What?”

 

Lena rolled her eyes. “Don’t make me retract this offer. I read through your notes this weekend. You did a wonderful job. Your research shined through.”

 

“You can’t just compliment me,” Kara gestured wildly as Lena’s disheveled appearance, “Looking like  _ that-” _

 

“Looking like what?”

 

“Looking like- oh god this really complicates things, doesn’t it.” Kara said, rubbing her face with both of her hands.

 

Lena stepped closer, drawing Kara’s attention back to her. “You didn’t answer my question.”

 

Kara swallowed. “I- oh  _ god _ \- I-”

 

“What?”

 

She looked at Lena helplessly. “Looking like you want to eat me-”

 

Lena smiled slowly. “Oh, I do.” 

 

Kara stumbled backwards against the desk in surprise when Lena dropped to her knees. 

 

* * *

 

Kara walked out of Lena’s office dazedly. She vaguely heard Jess saying goodnight to her as she floated back to her desk. She plopped down in her seat and stared at her black computer screen.

 

“... Kara ? Kara!” 

 

Winn’s voice startled Kara out of whatever dreamlike state she was in just seconds before. 

 

“What-”

 

“What’s up with you? Did she fire you- What-”

 

“I’m having an affair with her.”

 

Winn spluttered for a few seconds, mouth gaping after a few seconds of silence on Kara’s part. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

 

Kara looked up at Winn, eyes wide and serious. “I’m not.”

 

Winn leaned against the cubicle partition for support. “You- you never heard what happened to Cat’s old secretary right?”

 

Kara slowly shook her head, looking up at Winn with fear. 

 

“She blacklisted her.”

 

* * *

 

“No one can find out about this-” Kara gasped when Lena bit down on her pulsepoint.

 

“You think I don’t know that?” Lena muttered against Kara’s neck. “You’re not the one with much to lose.”

 

“You heard what happened to the guy you replaced, right?” Kara nudged Lena’s cheek with her hand to get her to look at her. 

 

“No-”

 

“Cat Grant pushed him out of a  _ moving car _ when she heard he was sleeping with her secretary.” Kara said nervously. 

 

“You’re joking.” Lena said lowly.

 

“I wish I was! And her secretary got blacklisted- I can’t beleive-”

 

Kara was interrupted by the sound of the intercom buzzing.

 

_ “Shit-” _

 

“Lena? What-”

 

“I forgot about my progress report with Cat.”

 

Kara looked at Lena with horror in her eyes. “You’re going to make me hide under your desk aren’t you.”

 

Lena nodded slowly.

 

“For the entire meeting.”

 

_ “Do we have a choice.”  _ Lena hissed.

 

The intercom buzzed again.

 

_ “Miss Luthor? Cat Grant is here for your first month’s progress report.” _

 

Lena hit the buzzer. “Give me a moment, Jess.”

 

“I guess we don't have a choice.” Kara muttered as Lena ushered her towards her desk.

**Author's Note:**

> hope u caught those references to stupid idiots (which was the reason i even wrote this fic) and parks and rec. I Love My Gays and hopefully ill have the next chapter up by the end of the week. let me kno what u liked so u can Revive me and give me the energy to keep writing


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